story by Brandon & Heather Nelson (with lots of help from some of the Pacific Northwest's most passionate racers) |
podium photo by Jake Hartsoch; race photos by Jon Brunk |
* Ed Note. While the emphasis in this article is Bellingham/Whatcom County’s Ski to Sea race (of which Adventures NW has been a proud sponsor for years), most of these tips are great for any multisport event . Many of these tips can even speed up your 5k. Going to race? Go Fast!
Ski to Sea, the “Bellingham Olympics,” irrefutably the greatest multi-sport relay race the world has ever known. The key word being “race”—a day to challenge yourself against a field of hundreds, against the clock, against the not-always-helpful forces of nature, and ultimately a day to discover how hard you can push and how fast you can really go. No matter what division you’re in, or how many times you’ve done the race in the past, there are multiple ways to shave seconds or whole minutes off your time.
So we pressed some of the northwest’s most passionate and respected athletes for their race knowledge and we came up with this list of 100 tips and techniques. Read it through, pick a handful and take action. Then on May 24th [2009] go out and have the fastest Ski to Sea of your life!
1. Don’t drop the chip! And if you do, pick it up immediately and at all costs! It doesn’t matter if you’re riding fast enough to make Lance Armstrong croak; if you don’t have that chip, your race is over!
2. Practice mounting and dismounting your bike quickly. There are lots of different dismounts, and the time you lose fumbling around adds up quick.
3. On the downhill ski, tuck, tuck, tuck as much as possible, and only skate when absolutely necessary. You have to keep speed up through the Blueberry turn to get over the flats that follow.
4. Whatever your leg, scout the entire course. There’s no substitute for seeing the actual terrain.
5. Train to specialize in the duration of your leg. There is no point in training for 3 hours for a 45 minute ride. Do shorter and higher intensity/heart rate rides instead.
6. Yes, carbo loading before the race really does work.
7. Don’t bother putting bigger gears on your mountain bike if you’re not vying for a podium spot. Only the very skilled MTB racer needs a bigger gear than his or her bike already has.
8. Warm up for the mountain bike leg by riding to Hovander Park from Bellingham before the race. Have someone meet you there with a stationary trainer and warm clothes so you can stay loose. Saves shuttling a vehicle, too.
9. Complete one workout a week that mimics the course and conditions. Approach these workouts (which may be a time trial or intervals) with a race-day type of warmup, nutrition and mindset.
